It is beneficial for a flower gardener to create a garden plan, but it doesn’t have to be anything fancy or complicated.

• A sketch will ensure that you are more informed when you purchase your flowers and plants
• You will know how many plants to buy, so you will be less likely to have to make numerous trips to a garden center or place several orders in order to fill your flower garden
• The plan will guide you on spacing if you end up substituting flowers due to availability
• A garden plan will help you to keep your vision in mind while planting the flower bed

How to Create a Sketch of Your Garden Plan

I use basic graph paper to develop my garden designs and landcaping sketches. Usually, when I decide I have time to work on planning a flower garden I can’t find my graph paper – one of the consequences of having a houseful of teenagers! As a result, I have found an excellent online source for printing customized graph paper which is pretty awesome.

Incompetech makes it possible for you to customize the graph paper, download it and print it out for free.

The next step is to decide how much space each square represents. Most flower garden plans use the scale of “Each Square = 1 Foot”. However, I have seen some plans where one square = 6 inches, which may be necessary for large gardens.

Once you have decided on the scale, you will be able to outline the garden based on the size and shape that you are working with. Then you will be ready to start documenting placement of your chosen flowers.

I use colored pencils to color in the placement of flowers, bushes, ornamental grasses, and other plants. It is nice if you know the recommended spacing between plants beforehand, but if you don’t, you can just decide where you want the plants to appear and then decide the number of plants that you need when you are purchasing them.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step One: Decide the size and layout of your garden and the scale of your plan

I am working with a space that is 20 foot long and 7 foot wide and I have decided on a scale of one square per foot, and I want the garden to be shaped as a rectangle. Here is an example of the basic layout for my garden plan.

Step Two: Choose the type of flowers that you will be working with

I will be planting climbing roses in the back, perennial plants throughout the garden, and annuals as borders and accents.

Step Three: Decide on a focal point

I will be putting a waterfall fountain in the center of this garden, so that will be my focal point. The measurements are 4 ft x 6 ft, so I will document it in the center of the garden.

Step Four: Decide on the specific flowers and plants and place them

When you select your flowers, it is important to know whether your garden is in full sunlight (6 hours or more of the day) or in partial shade (receives sunlight less than 6 hours a day). Take this into consideration when selecting plants.

I have chosen sweet asylum (an annual) to border the flower garden. I don’t know how many I will need to cover the area, but I do know the space that I have to cover, which will aide me in buying the plants. I am planning to plant climbing roses in the back which will decorate my trellises. I am allowing two feet out for them, which is easily adjustable if they need more or less space. The rest of the garden will mostly contain daffodils since I absolutely love them, with some tulips around the focal point a little bit of grape hyacinths to break up the color of the daffodils.

Here is my basic garden plan…

Creating your own garden design and plan can be as simple as that. It’s not fancy and definitely not professinal enough to sell as plan, but this plan lets me know that I need enough asylum to cover 26 feet, daffodils to cover 20 feet, grape hyacinths to cover 8 feet, and tulips to cover eight feet.

I have left plenty of space to play with. If the space is overwhelming, I can always fill it in with annuals or cover it with garden mulch.

 Return to Flower Garden Lover Home Page

© 2012, admin. All rights reserved.